Mitt Romney Gave $1.5 Million To The Mormon Church In 2010... Guess Who He Gave Another $1.5 Million To?*

A lot has been made of Mitt Romney's charitable donations--as it should be. The man gives away a lot of money.

In 2010, for example, a year in which he made $22 million, Romney gave away $3 million.

A startling $1.5 million of this, in the form of a direct cash donation, went to the Church Of The Latter Day Saints. (Romney also gave the Church another $145,000 from a private foundation--see below).

The rest, a stock donation, went to "The Tyler Foundation."

What's the Tyler Foundation?

*CORRECTION:The Tyler Foundation described below does not appear to be the one Mitt Romney gave ~$1.5 million to. A sharp-eyed reader did some digging and discovered that Romney has a private charity called "The Tyler Foundation" that has been the recipient of millions of dollars of gifts from Romney over the years and now has more than $10 million in total assets. This charity then doles out much smaller amounts of money to the Mormon Church (Romney gave an additional $145,000 to the church in 2010) and other charities.

In 2010, Romney's Tyler Foundation gave away a total of $647,500. The gift to the church was by far the largest. Other recipients included MS Cure, Operation Kids, Harvard Business School, The George W. Bush Libary, Brigham Young University, and the Belmont Hill School. This pattern of giving is much more in keeping with that of many personal foundations (spray small grants around) than the gift of one big grant to a small charity. I apologize for the mistake.